


Bubbles

by JMount74



Series: Fluffember 2020 [16]
Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:47:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27592247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JMount74/pseuds/JMount74
Summary: Bubbles come from different sources. Some are more enjoyable than others.
Series: Fluffember 2020 [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1997284
Comments: 7
Kudos: 12





	Bubbles

Decadent.

That was the word.

Sheer and utter decadence.

She needed this luxury occasionally, what with four young boys – five sometimes – and their rambunctious natures. They wore her out constantly, but she couldn’t imagine life any other way. Jeff had laughed when she told him her guilty pleasure and had gone on to make sure the bathroom was always fully stocked. Thank god for their en-suite! 

Scott would be brother-wrangling until Jeff got home, her eight-year-old delighted when she put him in charge, and she knew her children were relatively safe in his care. As long as no-one suggested anything to do with running or jumping or flying.

Lucy sighed and sank lower into the bubbles. The combination of lavender and rose never failed to relax her, and the sneaky cup of hot chocolate was certainly speeding that up! 

Ahh…Saturday morning rituals. Get the boys up, ready and fed, then they had three hours to do what they wanted while Scott supervised, and she had the longest, bubbliest bath she could manage. Of course, she’d never bathed longer than an hour – maternal instincts still kicking in because, much as she trusted Scott, silence in their household was never a good thing and usually meant trouble with a capital Gordon. 

And Jeff, bless him, had tried very hard to instil in the boys that she needed that little bit of time on her own. Gordon was coming up to three soon and was still quite demanding on her time, but he was getting the idea now. Both John and Virgil would be fine, Saturday’s usually meant reading and painting collectively, so Scott really only had the squid to deal with.

She rubbed her soapy swollen belly and wondered idly if this child would like bubbles too.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

He was missing his family terribly. He thought going to Yale had been bad enough, only being able to see them during breaks, but this was a whole other level of misery, being in a completely different country. He wondered if he had done the right thing, if he could last a year here without them. Then he laughed at himself.

Scott Tracy getting melancholy in his old age! 

He took a deep breath of the crisp Oxford air and set off to explore something new. He’d been here for almost three weeks now, the option to study the second part of his degree at prestigious Oxford University had been too tempting to resist. Having taken the last two weeks to settle in, and this week was all about exploring before the course began in earnest.

Meandering through the streets, he marvelled at the ancient architecture, thinking to himself how much Vigil would enjoy sketching the fabulous array of buildings. And they were right about the ‘dreaming spires’. He’d never seen a city skyline quite like it, and it had been the very first picture he had sent home.

The Radcliffe Observatory had been his second set of pictures home. He could just imagine John drooling over the pictures, pointing everything out and naming everything. Scott grinned to himself. There seemed to be something here for all his brothers. The Museum of Natural History would definitely pique Gordon’s interest, and Alan would love the tiny Science Museum. And there was even a museum for modern art!

But right now Scott was looking for a little retail therapy. He had been told that there were many quirky little shops all around Oxford, and he was determined that he should explore them all before meeting up with his new flatmates at a special pub. If anything, the pub promised to be the highlight of his day out!

He had spent several minutes soaking in the majesty of the Isis as it wound through the city – he had been told not to call it the Thames on pain of death! - standing on the Folly bridge watching the crews battle it out on the water.

Christ Church College and St. Aldgate’s Church were architectural masterpieces, and he took a short side trip through Christ Church meadow and stood staring at the Isis for a few minutes, noticing the steamer on the other side. Maybe he’d take a trip down the river one Saturday.

Carrying on his stroll into Cornmarket Street, he was surprised to see quite a crowd gathered in a large circle. Inside the circle was a guy on a unicycle spitting out flames to the delight of the children present. Scott found himself hit with a wave of nostalgia for some of the fairs he and his brothers had been to while growing up.

Detaching from the crowd, he continued down the pedestrian way only to come across another show. This one, though, really arrested his attention. For there was a man, dressed as a giant white rabbit, cycling what looked like a miniature penny-farthing cycle that was blowing bubbles out the front. 

He stood astonished as children, dogs and even some adults joined in the fun chasing the bubbles up and down the sidewalk. Whipping out his phone he started recording, a smile gracing his face. Alan would love this. He had very happy memories of toddling Alan and a young Gordon chasing giant bubbles out the back, his mother laughing in delight at their antics.

The sharp pain was tempered somewhat by the happy memory. His mom loved bubbles, and he remembered running around looking after his brothers while she had her weekly relax time. It was one of his chores that he really enjoyed because it allowed his mom to have a break.

In fact, this little interlude cheered him up no end, and he made his way, whistling, to the Eagle and Child to meet his friends.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

These bubbles he did not like.

They tickled his nose and tasted weird.

The girl, no – the Lady – opposite him was sipping demurely at her glass. Scott was bemused, he could imagine hearing John whispering ‘demurely?’ in his ear. Not a word his speed-freak of a brother would usually use, but Scott was learning to be savvier in his language and his behaviour.

His dad was teaching him more about business meetings than he ever wanted to know now. He appreciated that he was in line to take over the business one day – but he hoped that day would be many, many years from now. Yet here he was, learning how to hobnob with his dad’s business associates. Fortunately, he seemed to have his dad’s head on his shoulders – already they were complimenting him on having his father’s business sense.

But he wasn’t sure he could ever get used to drinking champagne. Give him a beer any day! However, the Lady his dad had introduced him to was there to teach him the etiquette he needed. What a way to spend his leave! Give him a meeting with his Major any day, he knew how to talk to them without needing training.

‘Scott, darling, stop frowning and smile. Drink up and circulate.’  
‘Ok, Lady P, ok.’  
‘And make sure you call me Lady Penelope. Best behaviour, Scott darling, best behaviour.’

He drank the champagne down in one, earning a tut from Penny and a frown from his father. God he hoped he wouldn’t be expected to do this too often! His father came over and passed him another glass of champagne, chuckling at his eldest son’s expression. He couldn’t resist adding: ‘there’s plenty more where that came from.’ Scott’s expression became a grimace.

Scott had an excellent business head already, he just needed honing. And who better to teach Scott to be a little more refined in face-to-face meetings than the Lady before them. Plus there was a little future venture that the three of them were going to discuss afterwards that might involve copious amount of champagne if Scott agreed…

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

Scott had matured since then. A lot. Now, now he liked a good bottle of champagne – a Krug or a vintage Dom Perignon – and he enjoyed the bubbles and the taste. Now, he enjoyed the rare occasions when he and his brothers could mess around, sometimes in the pool and sometimes with the bubble machine Gordon had bought a few years ago. And nothing was more relaxing after a long, hard rescue than an extra hot bubble bath, curtesy of Virgil-therapy.

Sometimes, bubbles were really the best.

Especially when shared.

**Author's Note:**

> The characters I describe performing in Oxford are real, I've watched them often!


End file.
